A copy of Iranian President Hasan Rouhani’s speech is placed on the empty Israeli delegation’s table as he addresses the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

JERUSALEM — With a few words in a largely conciliatory speech to the United Nations, Iran’s new president took aim at an Israeli fear: that international pressure on the Iranian nuclear program could lead to scrutiny of Israel’s own secretive nuclear facilities.

Israel is widely believed to possess dozens of atomic weapons under a program dating back more than half a century. But in a major pillar of its national defense strategy, it neither confirms nor denies having these weapons — a policy known as “nuclear ambiguity” meant to keep its enemies off balance.

Iran will likely try to draw attention to the Israeli policy as it prepares to engage the West in a new round of nuclear talks. While Israel does not appear to face any immediate threat of global censure, the issue nonetheless could be embarrassing given Israel’s repeated calls for the world to crack down on what it says is an Iranian campaign to develop a nuclear bomb.

Iran, which denies the accusations, has long claimed to be the victim of a “double standard” when compared to Israel — yet it is a double standard the world appears to largely have accepted.

In his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, President Hasan Rouhani appeared to be referring to Israel when he told the world body that he is ready to resolve the nuclear standoff with the West.

“Iran’s nuclear program — and for that matter, that of all other countries — must pursue exclusively peaceful purposes,” he said. He did not mention Israel directly.

Israel, along with many Western countries, believes that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon — or at least is aiming to become a “threshold,” able to quickly assemble a bomb. Israel says a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a grave danger, citing Iranian calls for Israel’s destruction, its development of long-range missiles and its support for hostile Arab militant groups.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Rouhani’s outreach to the West as a ploy to ease international sanctions and gain more time to build the bomb. He has urged the international community to increase, not ease, the pressure, and to maintain a “credible” military threat until Iran dismantles its nuclear program.

Israeli officials reject Iranian attempts to make Israel part of the debate, calling it a cheap diversionary tactic. Asked about this possible linkage, Netanyahu’s spokesman, Mark Regev, would only say that Iran would be judged not by words, but by its actions.

Israel launched its nuclear program around the time of independence in 1948, a time when neighboring Arab countries declared war against the fledgling Jewish state, and it has been an undeclared nuclear power since the mid-1960s, said Shlomo Aronson, an expert on Israel’s nuclear program at the Hebrew University. The program is believed to be headquartered at a heavily fortified facility in the southern desert town of Dimona.

The international community has quietly tolerated this arrangement out of an understanding of Israel’s unique security needs, he said.

“There is an international acceptance that Israel has no choice but to depend on its nuclear power without talking about it,” said Aronson. “In today’s power relations, where there are 6 million Jews against 400 million Arabs ... Israel has no choice but to be an undeclared nuclear power.”